Mandala of the Three Shrines at Kumano

Unknown artist, 1300s

Download1781 × 3400 px View on a wall Edit

Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Size: Image: 134 x 62 cm (52 3/4 x 24 7/16 in.); Overall: 217.2 x 80 cm (85 1/2 x 31 1/2 in.)
Culture: Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333) to Nanbokuchō period (1336–92)
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

This painting depicts the three shrines of Kumano from a bird’s-eye perspective, with the Buddhist counterparts of the kami of each shrine hall shown in discs directly above the halls. It also features figures, both pilgrims and deities, along the pilgrimage route and at the shrines. It is the only surviving work illustrating architectural representations of all three shrines in the same painting. They are compressed into a stacked composition, with the Nachi shrine at the top, the Shingū in the middle, and the Hongū at the bottom.